Development of food products based on millets, legumes and fenugreek seedsand their suitability in the diabetic diet

A multitude of investigations have demonstrated the beneficial hypoglycemic effect of millets, fenugreek seeds and legumes in diabetic subjects. Howev er, the bitter taste of fenugreek seeds and coarse nature of millets have b een limitations in using them in daily dietaries. Moreover, as of today, th e availability of special foods for diabetics in the Indian market is negli gible. The millets, fenugreek seeds and legumes in judicious combination, a fter suitable processing, were used to formulate three nutritious food prod ucts - dhokla (leavened steamed cake), uppuma (kedgeree) and laddu (sweet b alls), which are popular traditional snack foods in India. Evaluation of th ese food products for glycemic response in five normal and five diabetic su bjects showed hypoglycemic effects in terms of glycemic-index (GI). The hig hest GI was observed for dhokla (34.96) followed by laddu (23.52) and uppum a (17.60) in normal subjects. All three food products differed significantl y from each other in GI. Comparison of GI of all three food products in nor mal subjects with diabetes did not show significant differences (P similar to 0.05). The food products were well tolerated and acceptable to the subje cts. These food products may have an important role in dietary management f or diabetic people and may cater for their needs on a large scale if commer cialized.